190 Jeanette Needham. 
very clear that he had not renounced the policy outlined on 
June 23. The sole purpose of the union was to hasten the 
accomplishment of his ‘paternal views.”’ The only variation 
from the program proclaimed in the royal session was the definite 
setting of the time when the orders should meet together to 
treat general affairs, instead of leaving to the orders themselves 
the determination of the date for a common session. So far as 
the king was concerned, the declarations of the royal session 
were to be executed in full. To effect the operation of the 
general assembly of the estates, he issued on the 27th of June, 
a regulation concerning the mandates of the deputies to the 
estates-general. Its purpose was to render all deputies capable 
of participation in the assembly, by carrying out the articles of 
the first declaration which dealt with imperative instructions, 
especially article V. Deputies so hampered were to request a 
new convocation of their order. The baillifs or seneschals re- 
ceiving such petitions were to summon the orders without delay. 
These would then grant instructions without limitation in 
harmony with the king’s prohibition of imperative mandates.” 
The decree which the minority of the clergy passed, in defer- 
ence to the king’s letter, declares in as striking a manner that 
this group was making the declarations of June 23 the basis of 
its action. The minority of the clergy clearly had no other 
aim than the execution of the governmental plan of June 23.”4 
The protests made by the nobility fully revealed the attitude 
of many in that order. One further fact shows clearly their 
intention of insisting upon the distinction of orders. At the 
close of the session of June 27, the Duke of Luxemburg announced 
a meeting in the hall of the nobility at nine o’clock on June 30 
2 Etats-généraux, Extrait du Journal de Paris, 136-137; Brette, Recueil de 
documents, 56-57. 
23 Point du jour, 1, 65-66, reproduces the letter said to have been given to 
the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld; Courrier de Provence (Lettre XIV, 9-10) 
gives the text of the letter; Bulletins d’un agent secret, No. 49 (La révolution 
frangaise, XXIV, 75) has a copy of a portion of the letter sent to the nobility 
which was posted in the Palais Royal. The copies sent to the orders were the 
same, Duquesnoy says (I, 139-40), and he gives the letter, said to have been 
addressed to the Duke.of Luxemburg. 
*4 Barmond, Récit; 278-280. 
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